1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to burial vault and casket constructions and, more particularly, to a lightweight burial container assembly which is constructed of a plurality of individual and assembleable pieces and which is filled with a desired filler material to provide improved load bearing capability. A method for constructing a burial container which employs the assembly of the invention is also disclosed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art is well documented with examples of burial vaults and burial vault/casket constructions. The more traditional of such constructions has consisted of a burial casket constructed of either a wood or a polymer or other synthetic material which is used for holding the body of the deceased and, upon burying of the deceased, is placed within a two-piece concrete vault enclosure. As is well understood in the art, the drawbacks of such constructions include not only the overall expense of both the vault and casket but the size and weight considerations involved, particularly with the burial vaults which can easily weigh more than 2400 pounds including the base and lid. A further disadvantage endemic with standard sized vault enclosures is the inevitability of cracks and seams which result in water seepage within the vault enclosure, such seepage typically resulting in the entire vault being filled with water and the water subsequently unseating the casket from its anchored position and permeating through the casket to the body contained within. Another disadvantage of current burial casket designs, especially those designated as combination vault and casket constructions and employed without the provision of a surrounding vault enclosure, is the tendency of the ground conditions which may change or shift over time, with the result that the combination assembly will rotate and pivot within the ground, and the result being the eventual compromising of the seal integrity of the vault/casket.
Recent attempts in the prior art have been made to improve upon the most conventional of burial construction assemblies, both in the areas of weight reduction and simplified design. U.S. Pat. No. 5,245,733, issued to Goria, teaches a combination burial vault and casket in which both the lid and base are constructed of a synthetic resinous material of one piece and seamless construction. Both the lid and base are constructed with composite hollow walled interiors and which are capable of being filled at the grave site with either a concrete or pumpable light-weight cellular concrete for added strength. The lid and base are configured so that they may be engaged by mechanical means, such as vertically securing bolts or by chemical means. Although the combination vault and casket construction of Goria does provide significant weight reductions over the prior art, it still suffers a realistic shortcoming of the relative bulkiness of the base and lids and the shipping requirements which are necessary to transport the one-piece lid and base to the gravesite.
An additional example of the prior art is illustrated in Reissue U.S. Pat. No. 29,114, issued to McQuestion, which discloses a burial vault construction having a preformed hollow fiberglass resin base and cover shell with increased tensile strength and crack-resistance. The inner surface of the shells are provided integrally formed fiberglass anchor loops which become embedded within and facilitate gripping of a fillable cement sand-stone composition. Additional short steel wires may be placed randomly within the fillable composition to increase strength and tensile resistance. McQuestion is similar in respects to Goria in that, while it too improves upon the weight consideration of the vault design, the base and lid must again be transported in one-piece fashion and McQuestion further requires a fairly elaborate assembly of the shells to provide the requisite tensile load bearing characteristics.